Etsy.com’s Business Up 72%

If you’re into making and selling hand made items, you really ought to know about Etsy.com. Some have called it the “Ebay of arts and crafts”.

If people are looking for home made/hand made items, they must be shopping like crazy at Etsy.com

Here are the stats behind why the company is valued at $300 million:

• Revenue this year is expected to be $30 million-$50 million. (Kalin says Etsy is profitable.)

• Gross sales through Etsy are expected to be $400 million, CEO Rob Kalin hopes to hit $1 billion next year.

• There’s six million items for sale on the site.

• In May, Etsy users spent $23 million, up 72% year over year.

• The average price for an Etsy item is $18.20.

Read it all at Business Insider

They keep 3.5% of the revenue as a sales fee in addition to a small listing fee per item (.20).

Can you make a full time living through Etsy?

Here’s Etsy’s answer to that at their blog where they introduce people who have gone full time in their creative work thanks to having a market through Etsy:

Featured Team: Full Time Etsy Crafters Team

There’s even a support systerm for these full timers at Etsy. Judging by the membership there’s a small but growing group of full timers.

Every small town (especially rural areas) have these people who make hand made and home made crafts that are perfect for the Etsy marketplace.  People wanting to export local products across the country could help create local co-ops that use Etsy as at least one of their market places. Instead of just begging the neighbors to “buy local”, why not get proactive and “Sell Local”!?